Alien's Orphan Bride: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Mail Order Human Book 4) by Sue Lyndon, Sue Mercury Page A

tone of defeat.
    The instant the man grabbed for her suitcase, she slashed him across the cheek, then kicked the knife out of his hand. Blood trickled down his face.
    Rage flamed in his eyes.
    He lunged at her with a roar.
    “Wake up, wake up! We’re here!”
    Hailey awoke with a jolt and sat up in bed, her hand immediately seeking out the blade hidden in her boot. Except it wasn’t there. She wasn’t wearing boots and she wasn’t fighting for her life on the streets of Atlanta. She blinked as her surroundings came into focus. Thank God. It had only been a dream. Well, a dream about something that had once happened. But that part of her life had ended. She was safe now.
    All around her, young women hurried to pack their belongings and primp in front of the mirrors. Her heart lurched. They must have arrived on Marrlxia earlier than expected. The captain of the Matchmaker 2 had mentioned possibly taking a shortcut through a newly discovered wormhole, and considering they’d apparently landed on Marrlxia a full two weeks before scheduled, they must have successfully traveled through this new interstellar passage.
    “Hailey, sweetie, get dressed!” Angie, looking freshly showered, rushed over to the bunk they shared as she zipped up her makeup bag. “The captain says we’ll be landing on Marrlxia in the next hour.”
    Once again, Hailey cursed the design of the Matchmaker 2 for not having windows in the women’s sleeping quarters. She longed to glimpse the planet from space. Her pulse quickened as she crawled out of bed.
    Would she find what she was looking for on Marrlxia? Would her mate be kind and loving? She knew nothing about the alien she’d been matched with, save that his name was Cav.
    At least she knew a bit about the planet of Marrlxia. One of the guards on the Matchmaker 2 had regaled the women one evening with stories of the newly discovered planet, having spent a week in one of their cities while repairs were made to the Matchmaker 2 after a drop off.
    Apparently the Marrlxians had battled a race of aliens called the Searxins for many years. After finally defeating their enemy, they returned victorious to their home planet, only to discover a great flood had left their two largest cities in ruins. The loss of life—mostly women and children, since all the capable men had been fighting the Searxins—had been astronomical. Hailey’s heart broke just thinking about it.
    The planet had finally recovered from the flood, with the cities repaired and two newly built dams in place to prevent any similar disasters from striking the great cities. But all the men who’d returned from war needed females. According to the guard, Marrlxian males of both the noble and working classes need heirs by their fiftieth birthday. Males without heirs must give away all of their property and wealth and go live in seclusion in the mountains. The guard claimed it was a law passed down by Marrlxian gods, though he’d laughed as he said it, clearly not believing in such divine beings.
    Once it was learned that human females were compatible with their species, the Marrlxians had booked the next twenty shipments of Earth women. A shiver went through Hailey at the thought of what this meant. She would be required to provide her Marrlxian mate an heir.
    She hurried to shower and get dressed, taking care to style her long auburn hair into a braid that rested on her left shoulder—a hairstyle the guard claimed was considered fashionable for Marrlxian females. Then she tossed her meager belongings into her suitcase and sat on the bottom bunk next to Angie. They exchanged a nervous look.
    “We’re both going to men in the same city,” Angie said in a hopeful voice. “We’ll be able to see each other, I’m sure.”
    Hailey smiled and squeezed her new friend’s hand. “It’ll be nice to have a familiar face nearby.” She blew out a breath. “I must confess to being very nervous. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful I was